Tournaments

CYSA Founder's Cup

What is the CYSA Founders’ Cup?

CYSA Founders’ Cup is an ‘open cup’ tournament created specifically for CYSA Division 4 Recreational teams. Founders’ Cup is hosted each year by the CYSA Founders’ Cup Committee. The Founders’ Cup tournament operates in a format similar to the CYSA Cups that are established for the Division 1 and Division 3 teams (State Cup, Presidents Cup and Association Cup). All eligible CYSA recreational teams may apply to and participate in this tournament. The CYSA Founders’ Cup hosts brackets in the U10, U12, U14, U16 and U19 age groups. Additional details can be located in the RULES section of the Founders’ Cup page on the CYSA website.

Who is eligible to attend the CYSA Founders’ Cup?

Any CYSA registered Division 4 U9 through U19 team that competes in a recreational playing league hosted by a CYSA member league or a CYSA District is eligible to apply Founders’ Cup is open for Division 4 teams and players ONLY. Teams that participated in Division 1 or 3 tournaments are not eligible for Founders’ Cup. Players who were rostered on a Division 1 or Division 3 team during the season are NOT eligible to participate on a Founder’s Cup team. Each team must have its roster approved by its District Registrar in order to complete their application to Founders’ Cup.

When does the CYSA Founders’ Cup take place?

The U10 Founders’ Cup takes place in mid-December over the course of two weekends as part of the CYSA Cup Festival. The U12 and 14 Founders’ Cup takes place simultaneously over two weekends in mid-December at a venue separate from the U10 Cup Festival. The U16-19 age groups begin play in late February and conclude cup play in early March.

What is the format of the CYSA Founders’ Cup?

Teams are placed into brackets by modified blind draw. During the preliminary round play on the first weekend of cup, teams will play round-robin against the other teams in the bracket. Teams will have one or two games on Saturday and one or two games on Sunday. Teams qualify to advance to the single elimination rounds either as bracket winners or as a second place team from a bracket with designated “wild card”. Teams advancing to the single elimination rounds will play “knock out” games where the winning teams advance to the following round of play and the losing team is eliminated from the competition. With each win in the single elimination rounds, a team will continue to advance. Typically quarter finals & semifinals will take place on Saturday and championships will be held on Sunday during the second and final weekend of Founders’ Cup play. The U9, U10 and U11 teams play 8 v 8 games. The U12 and older age groups play 11 v 11 matches. In the event of weather-related field cancellations, the games may be postponed to alternate weekends or sometimes relocated to venues where the conditions allow play to continue.

Where are the games held?

The CYSA Founders’ Cup tournament is an Northern California-wide event and therefore games can be scheduled in any of the nine Districts within CYSA’s territorial area (see the map of CYSA territory on the CYSA website) and teams must be prepared to travel anywhere within this area, however in the spirit of promoting recreational soccer, CYSA makes every attempt to schedule the Founders’ Cup events at centrally located venues. As an example, over the past several seasons games have been played at the Mistlin Sports Park & Soccer Complex in Ripon (near Manteca), the Morgan Hill Soccer Complex, and the Cherry Island Soccer Complex in Sacramento.

What cost is associated with the CYSA Founders Cup Tournament?

The Founders’ Cup entry fee is $400. Because this is a cup specifically for recreational level teams that may not have team accounts, the $400 Early Bird fee remains in effect until the November 1st application deadline. The entry fee covers the costs of facility rental, field preparation, referees, support staff, awards, and other associated costs. Any cup-related costs incurred by the team for transportation, lodging, food, etc. are the responsibility of the team members. What are the dates/deadlines associated with attending Founders’ Cup? In order to be accepted for Founders’ Cup teams must complete an application which includes three components: (1) the entry form (we encourage online entry which can be completed on the CYSA website’s Association Cup page); (2) a copy of their authorized CYSA roster (can be scanned & emailed); (3) the entry fees (can be paid online with a credit card during the application process or sent via check/money order. The application deadline for U10-U14 Founders’ Cup is November 1st at 5:00 PM. The application deadline for U16-U19 Founders’ Cup is January 3rd at 5 PM. Any applications completed after the deadline will be diverted to the Reserve Pool and will be placed in the Cup on a space available basis. Reserve Pool applicants are not guaranteed a spot in the competition. What is the deadline for submitting a roster to CYSA? Along with their initial Founders’ Cup application teams must submit an official CYSA team roster that has been authorized by their District Registrar. The district-authorized roster and completed cup entry must be received in the CYSA Office no later than 5 PM on November 1st for the U10-U14 age groups and no later than 5 PM on January 3rd for the U16-U19 age groups. If the team roster has a message at the bottom indicating the team is not approved for travel or that there is a player whose birth date has not been confirmed or there is a player without an eligibility date, the message must be cleared by the District Registrar in order to validate the roster. Draft rosters are not acceptable. If the team does not already have a roster that has been authorized by the District Registrar they should email their league registrar or District Registrar well in advance for the specific timelines and deadlines that must be met in order to obtain an approved roster by the November 1st deadline for the U10-U14 Founders’ Cup application deadline and the January 3rd U16-U19 Founders’ Cup application deadline. This will give the registrars adequate time to complete the process for approving and issuing team credentials.

Can I make changes to my roster before attending Founders’ Cup?

Teams can continue to make roster changes after they apply to a CYSA Cup. The team roster “freezes” 14 days prior to the cup’s scheduled start date. During the season CYSA allows up to 5 inter league transfers per team (players moving from one league’s roster to another league’s roster), an unlimited number of intra league transfers (players moving from one roster to another within the same league and considered to be a “club pass”) and an unlimited number of added players (players not on a CYSA roster this season. Although there is no freeze date for adding or deleting registered team officials (coaches, assistant coaches, managers, etc.) all player movement on and off the roster will stop on the freeze date. Throughout all roster changes, a team must retain a core of 9 players from their league roster to the Cup roster. Teams should contact their league registrars for guidance regarding making any roster changes and/or for information regarding the deadline for submitting roster changes to the league and district prior to the roster freeze deadline. Will my team have a realistic chance of being competitive in CYSA Founders’ Cup? Because of the definition of how recreational teams are formed, a Division 4 team’s chance of being competitive may improve as the season progresses. There are many intangible and variable factors that contribute to the success of each team. Teams in Founders’ Cup will compete against other Division 4 recreational teams from throughout Northern California. Players and coaches will have the opportunity to experience competition against many recreational teams, with many different styles of play. This is an opportunity to test the players’ skills against opposing teams that they are playing, very often for the first time ever. It is an opportunity for teams to observe and learn from other players/teams, to enhance their development, and to measure their own skills against other recreational teams from across the state. As teams seek to be the one team to win the championship in their age group in this challenging and fun-filled format, players and families can see first-hand their progress. For many teams the Founders’ Cup is the culmination of their season. All teams have a shot at winning this title. Recreational teams often discover that their play will intensify in the tournament format and the cup atmosphere.

Interested in Participating?

If your team is interested in applying to CYSA Founders’ Cup first confirm that you have enough players who are committed to participate on all of the dates that are noted on the Founders’ Cup calendar. If not, you may want to consider transferring or adding players to supplement the roster. Keep in mind you will not be able to make roster changes after the freeze date and that Founders’ Cup rules dictate that a minimum of nine (9) players from the team’s roster from league play must carry over to the Founders’ Cup roster. U16 and U19 teams are allowed to roster up to 22 players however prior to each game the team will be required to designate no more than 18 players for the game roster. Also make sure to discuss with the team how they will obtain funding for the entry fee (sponsorship? team members’ contributions? club or league assistance? fund raiser? etc.) Use your District Founders’ Cup Representative and your League and District Registrars as a source of information to ensure your questions are answered and the Founders’ Cup deadlines are met.